thehambone

Hello everyone! I'd like to announce that I am working on a save editor for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories! The project is currently a work-in-progress and I will release it to the public when it is complete. I began working on the tool in early February and had originally planned to release it in late March, but college, life, and other things have gotten in the way and development has been taking longer than expected. So instead, I've decided to make people aware of the project and provide a place to give out information as development unfolds.

All save file research and program development was conducted by me. When the tool is complete, I will post my research to GTAModding.com and I'll probably release the source code for the tool under a "for learning purposes; not to distribute" license.

FeaturesAs of now, the editor supports PS2 saves only, but I've already developed framework that allows me to easily add iOS and Android support, which I will do soon. You can edit general game info, such as the current time, weather, and even some of the game settings! You can also change Toni's clothes, make him spawn anywhere on the map, give him more health and armor than normally allowed by the game, edit weapons and garages, and much more! A full list of features can be found below.

thehambone

Nice work man - u writed mayby a mobile support - but nice will by ad psp version support .

Thanks! Yeah I'd like to add PSP support, the only problem is every PSP save I can find is encrypted and I don't know how to decrypt them. So, until I learn how to decrypt PSP saves, I won't be able to add PSP support.

thehambone

oh and also.. could you please add Waterproof to the Special vehicle properties options if at all possible.. Thanks a bunch hambone!

From my research, I could not confirm that waterproof (WP) was a distinct vehicle property in LCS. It seems to be a side effect, so-to-speak, of the Heavy (H) property when applied to motorcycles (note how every WP vehicle in LCS is a bike that's also heavy). In addition, neither of the two "Unknown Properties" appear to have the effect of WP when applied to both motorcycles and cars.

Note about the two unknown properties: I'm sure that one of the unknown properties is the melee-proof (MP) property found in GTA III, VC, and SA. The MP property makes a vehicle immune to melee attacks, but is broken in III, VC, and LCS; it only works in SA (I'm not sure about VCS). I have no idea what the second unknown property may be.

Blackbird88

Nice work man - u writed mayby a mobile support - but nice will by ad psp version support .

Thanks! Yeah I'd like to add PSP support, the only problem is every PSP save I can find is encrypted and I don't know how to decrypt them. So, until I learn how to decrypt PSP saves, I won't be able to add PSP support.

thehambone

Hmmm... maybe. I'll have to do some research. To be honest, encryption isn't my strongpoint; I've never had to encrypt/decrypt game files before, so I don't know much about how to do it. I'll figure it out eventually.

MorsPrincipiumEst

From my research, I could not confirm that waterproof (WP) was a distinct vehicle property in LCS. It seems to be a side effect, so-to-speak, of the Heavy (H) property when applied to motorcycles (note how every WP vehicle in LCS is a bike that's also heavy). In addition, neither of the two "Unknown Properties" appear to have the effect of WP when applied to both motorcycles and cars.

Note about the two unknown properties: I'm sure that one of the unknown properties is the melee-proof (MP) property found in GTA III, VC, and SA. The MP property makes a vehicle immune to melee attacks, but is broken in III, VC, and LCS; it only works in SA (I'm not sure about VCS). I have no idea what the second unknown property may be.

You might be right. It is REAL, but I am not sure if it's a Property in and of itself, or it is tied to the Heavy Property on Bikes. There is only 3 WP Vehicles in LCS and all 3 of these are Bikes and all 3 of them also have the Heavy Property (H/BP/FP/WP/EC Chrome Red PCJ-600 from Biker Heat, H/UH/WP PCJ-600 from 9MM Mayhem, and H/PP/WP/EC Yellow Faggio from Stop the Press). Then in VCS, there is 1 WP Vehicle and again, it's a Bike and is also Heavy. The H/WP Sanchez from Beach Patrol. So yeah, I am not sure if WP is a Property by itself or if it's tied to Bikes and more importantly, Heavy Bikes...

Hmmm... maybe. I'll have to do some research. To be honest, encryption isn't my strongpoint; I've never had to encrypt/decrypt game files before, so I don't know much about how to do it. I'll figure it out eventually.

When you open the Hazard GTA V Save Editor, it automatically decrypts and encrypts the Saves. You should send him a PM as he knows his stuff with the Save Editors. PS3 and GTA V are much more complex I'd imagine than the 3D Era GTA's, even if LCS/VCS on PSP. You'll figure it out eventually...

thehambone

It's coming along, but a lot slower than I'd like. I'm currently working on the garage section and identifying which vehicles have extra parts that can be swapped and listing all of them out (i.e. liveries on the Yankee and Mule and the light on the Taxi).

3.And will the save editor be compatible with PSP saves in the future, because I'm hoping to take out my UMD disk from the game case and start playing Lcs again with unlimited Cash and stuff.

Anyways,Good luck with finishing it.

Thank you!

Development is slow, unfortunately. I'm very busy with school at the moment, but I do work on the editor when I have the time. I certainly would like to get it out there soon though. I'm hoping to release it before the end of the year, but that will depend on how the rest of my semester goes.

As far as PSP saves go, as of now the editor does not support PSP saves. Reason being is I don't know how to decrypt PSP saves. Once I find a way to reliably decrypt and re-encrypt PSP saves, I will add PSP support to the save editor.

Glovenfun21

I always wanted to create a huge gang war in GTA LCS by making the game only spawn gangsters, Similar to Pedgrp.dat or modifying gang density in areas of the Main.SCM, Which makes me wonder.... Are we at a point that changing the spawning locations for npc's possible? Can we make Gang01,02,03,04,05 ETC Spawn anywhere with editing the game's internal save data? With this program? (Possibly in the future) Will Sanny Builder ever finally add the ability to compile Stories Main.scm file... my rambling aside... I am very excited for the future of GTA stories modding, And hope to finally see GTA LCS/VCS get the modding scene it deserves! Keep up the good work man! hope to see more from you!

I always wanted to create a huge gang war in GTA LCS by making the game only spawn gangsters, Similar to Pedgrp.dat or modifying gang density in areas of the Main.SCM, Which makes me wonder.... Are we at a point that changing the spawning locations for npc's possible? Can we make Gang01,02,03,04,05 ETC Spawn anywhere with editing the game's internal save data? With this program? (Possibly in the future) Will Sanny Builder ever finally add the ability to compile Stories Main.scm file... my rambling aside... I am very excited for the future of GTA stories modding, And hope to finally see GTA LCS/VCS get the modding scene it deserves! Keep up the good work man! hope to see more from you!

Glovenfun21

I always wanted to create a huge gang war in GTA LCS by making the game only spawn gangsters, Similar to Pedgrp.dat or modifying gang density in areas of the Main.SCM, Which makes me wonder.... Are we at a point that changing the spawning locations for npc's possible? Can we make Gang01,02,03,04,05 ETC Spawn anywhere with editing the game's internal save data? With this program? (Possibly in the future) Will Sanny Builder ever finally add the ability to compile Stories Main.scm file... my rambling aside... I am very excited for the future of GTA stories modding, And hope to finally see GTA LCS/VCS get the modding scene it deserves! Keep up the good work man! hope to see more from you!

Ah... So what exactly does the Limit Adjuster do? Could i use this to do what i had in mind? And if so... exactly how? I'm not very good with coding... But i never had problems with editing the gang densities from the Main.SCM because of being so familiar with it. Also i think i should mention i'm using PSP version of GTA LCS

Shaz22

Would you be making a Save Slot selector that goes with the editor?
That allows you to select and rearrange the save you want to edit in a different save slot by saving the edits made, creating a new save folder onto the desktop.

(I think its a little to advanced because of the Corruption of saves)

But I have ways around it.

I've seen a Vice City save editor that allows you to edit and rearrange save slots from slot 1 to slot 8.

thehambone

Would you be making a Save Slot selector that goes with the editor?That allows you to select and rearrange the save you want to edit in a different save slot by saving the edits made, creating a new save folder onto the desktop.

I wasn't planning on adding a save slot selector, since the one in the VC Save Editor (and my own GTA III Save Editor) is there to load PC saves from the default PC save directory. Since LCS isn't available on PC, I didn't think it would be necessary. But, if it's something people would like, I can always add one. I'd be up to you to choose which folder the save slot selector looks at though.

Also, you can always change the slot a save file loads from by simply changing the number in the save file name. (GTA3LCSsf1.b is slot 1, GTA3LCSsf7.b is slot 7, etc.)

Shaz22

People could browse for their saves when they copy their save file folder to the desktop and put it in a new folder, you can it rename to saves if you want,and select the folder called Saves if your editor can browse for folders.

So you can just browse and select the folder called saves,it should have your LCS save file folders in it.
and your editor should find it and recognise it as a folder full of save files.

And when you are selecting your save it should have a description of wether it was made on IOS,Ps2 and PSP (The ones you said you were going to make your editor compatible for in the future) next to the title of the save in brackets.

For IOS they would open the file directly by copying whole folder from Ifunbox to the desktop and placing it in the new folder I mentioned.

I'm not sure about where Ps2 saves are located but, it should be still the same as PSP
(Thats My Guess,not a legit answer.)

I think it's a little to advanced to add.
It's your editor, you can use this idea or forget about this idea.

thehambone

I've been doing a lot of save file research these past few days. I'm going through and verifying my findings as well as filling gaps. Additionally, I'm making sure that I equally map out PS2, iOS, and Android saves so the editor will be fully compatible with all three formats. I recently acquired the PSP version of the game, but I'm still at a loss as to how to decrypt PSP saves, so PSP support will have to wait for now.

I've discovered a few cool things that aren't normally available in the game. For instance, you can re-enable the Taxi boost jump feature found in VC after dropping off 100 fares. I also have nearly all the stats mapped out, so I plan to have a nice stats editor included in the program.

Still not sure when there will be a release, as there's still a lot to do. I'm considering releasing it before it's fully complete -- I just don't really like the idea of giving people a half-finished product.

Also, the to-do and features list in the OP is outdated. I'll get to updating that soon.

The Lone Spirit

Can you make one for GTA VCS too? I've been trying to shoot all red balloons, complete all rampages and do all stunt jumps at once, but i died 4 times and loaded the last save everytime i did, but now i died once while doing a rampage, and i won't waste my time doing it all over again so i just bought my weapons from the hospital, i would like to change that "times you've been wasted" from 4 to 0.

thehambone

Can you make one for GTA VCS too? I've been trying to shoot all red balloons, complete all rampages and do all stunt jumps at once, but i died 4 times and loaded the last save everytime i did, but now i died once while doing a rampage, and i won't waste my time doing it all over again so i just bought my weapons from the hospital, i would like to change that "times you've been wasted" from 1 to 0.

I do want to make a VCS editor, but it'll probably be a separate project.

If you want, you can send me your save and I can try to manually edit the "times you've been wasted" stat for you.